As Catholics, we stand with Pope Francis against policies that support the most egregious extraction practices, particularly fracking. Too often oil and gas companies are using these dangerous extraction methods in our communities, next to our schools, and in our backyards. Fracking contaminates our air and our water, and makes our children us sick. Because of fracking, too many of our communities are becoming victims of what Francis calls an "economy that kills."

The very first words of the Bible tell us that God himself is the creator of heaven and earth. God’s first home for us was a garden, and God’s first vocation for us was to be gardeners that protect, care, sustain and develop creation. Protecting creation is a response to the God’s ancient request that we be good stewards of all that God has given us: clean air, fresh water and fruits of the harvest.

Ask the Holy Father to make pastoral outreach to the LGBT community a top priority at the 2015 World Meeting of Families.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Last week, 35 Pennsylvanian Catholic leaders sent a letter to Pope Francis asking him to make sure that the pastoral care of LGBT Catholics is a top agenda priority for the Church’s upcoming 2015 World Meeting of the Families in Philadelphia.

The Philadelphia meeting’s agenda will be a major topic discussed among the bishops in Rome as the Vatican’s Synod on the Family convenes today. This comes during a major time of crisis for LGBT Catholics in the United States and across the world. Though Pope Francis himself has shown a tremendous openness towards the LGBT Catholic community, many LGBT Catholics still face unjust discrimination in their faith communities. Since the beginning of Francis’s pontificate in March 2013, there have been 33 recorded instances of anti-gay discrimination within the American Catholic Church.

Catholics United, along with Faithful America, is calling on the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to terminate its land leases with local Oil and Gas companies.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles is currently leasing several properties to oil and gas companies and has begun lobbying local governments against public safety regulations intended to protect the public from the harmful effects of unconventional drilling processes. By lobbying to lift such public health regulations, the Archdiocese has prioritized their own financial interests, as well as the interests of oil companies, before the health and wellbeing of its own parishioners.

“The Archdiocese of Los Angeles is protecting and fighting for Big Oil all in the name of greed. And their actions will undoubtedly harm poor and minority communities the most” said Andrea Leon-Grossmann, a California spokesperson for Catholics United. “Archbishop Gomez actions are in direct violation of Pope Francis' beliefs in protecting the most vulnerable.”

Catholics United responds to the Illinois Rifle Association’s comparison of Catholic priest, Fr. Michael Pfleger, to ISIS, a terrorist organization that recently beheaded two Americans.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In an email sent out to their supporters, a local affiliate of the NRA in Illinois recently compared Pastor Michael Pfleger to ISIS, a terrorist organization that recently beheaded two Americans. In response, Catholics United has launched a campaign calling on the president of the NRA, James W. Porter II, to publicly distance itself from the words of their local group.

“The NRA has a choice. They can either continue down a path of increasing irrelevance by embracing the extreme and reckless actions of their Illinois affiliate, or they can be a respectable organization that engages in civil debate regarding our nation’s gun laws,” says James Salt, Executive Director of Catholics United. “Father Pfleger has spent his life working to save lives by reducing gun violence on the streets of Chicago. His work should be celebrated, not targeted by gross mischaracterizations.”

Support from Cardinal Timothy Dolan marks a growing shift in the relationship between the church and the LGBT community

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The NBC lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender resource group OUT@NBCUniversal will be marching under their own banner in New York City’s upcoming St. Patrick’s Day Parade on March 17th, 2015. The parade, which is the largest of its kind in the world, had prohibited LGBT identified groups from marching in the past but parade officials lifted the ban this year after decades of protests and court battles.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the current Archbishop of New York and next year’s grand marshall of the parade, fully supports the decision to lift the ban. He said that the parade committee, “continues to have my confidence and support,” and that he “appreciated the cooperation of parade organizers in keeping the parade close to its Catholic heritage.” The spokesperson for the organizers of the event, Bill O’Reilly, said that the parade is “remaining loyal to church teachings.”

In light of recent transgender teen’s suicide, the Catholic Church should re-evaluate how they treat the transgender community

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A transgender teen ended his own life in Croydon, Pennsylvania, by jumping in front of an amtrak train near Croydon station on Monday August 18th at 1:30 in the afternoon. According to his family and friends, 17 year old Riley Matthew Moscatel had been experiencing depression for years. Moscatel was frustrated about his body and was struggling with his gender identity. According to news reports, he posted on his instagram account that he was a prisoner of his own body not long before his death.

Riley Moscatel was raised in a Catholic family. His funeral services were held at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in Croydon, PA and Fr. Michael Davis presided.

Riley’s death underscores the general lack of support services available to LGBT Catholics and raises questions about how the Catholic church’s teachings on gender identity contributed to Riley’s mental state when he took his own life.

Call on the media to provide a more accurate analysis of his past anti-poverty voting record

Washington DC - Rep. Paul Ryan is launching a nationwide book tour aimed at rebranding his public persona as it relates to poverty. In his book, which is being released by his publishers today, Ryan acknowledges having errored when referring to some Americans as “takers” and others as “makers”. He proceeds to argue the GOP should abandon this divisive rhetoric and broaden its appeal to a wider audience by embracing conservative policies aimed at reducing poverty.

Paul Ryan’s recent PR campaign has been widely covered in the media. Unfortunately, most of the recent media coverage fails to recognize how Ryan’s own voting record and policy agenda contradicts his stated interest in rebranding himself as a friend of the poor.

Intolerance towards gay people is turning young Catholics away from the faith

This past week in Macon, Georgia, the Catholic high school Mount de Sales Academy, fired a gay employee, Flint Dollar, after he posted on his personal Facebook account his intention to marry. In response to the schools actions, hundreds of students and parents have organized in support of the teacher.

The discriminatory firing of gay employees at Catholic institutions reflect a growing trend that is seemingly at odds with the leadership of Pope Francis. Pope Francis recently ended discriminatory policies against gay priests serving in the Vatican and has critiqued many church leaders obsessive concerns over issues of human sexuality. Last year, in response to questions about a suspected gay priest serving within his administration, Pope Francis famously declared, “Who am I to judge?”

Catholics United Education Fund seeks to hire a full time organizer, beginning in the spring of 2014, to conduct faith based organizing work in Pennsylvania. The organizer will be responsible for implementing media outreach, one-on-one membership engagement and online organizing tactics.

About Catholics United Education Fund

Catholics United Education Fund and its 501(c)(4) partner organization, Catholics United, are national organizations that promote the values of justice and the common good in our public debate. Working with our 50,000 members, we are a progressive religious organization that engages in public debate to leverage power for positive social change.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The nonprofit Catholics United today called on President Obama to address the moral responsibility to act on climate change and conserve our natural and cultural heritage at his March 27 meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican.

“This state visit with the Pope provides President Obama a unique opportunity to highlight his significant environmental accomplishments amongst a highly receptive audience at the Vatican, and launch an international conversation about our shared moral responsibility to protect God’s Creation,” said James Salt, executive director of Catholics United.

Salt points to the Administration’s success in reducing carbon emissions and protecting natural landmarks, most recently Point Arena-Stornetta in Northern California, as relevant topics for discussion. The environment is a personal issue of concern for Pope Francis. He took the name Francis, the patron saint of nature, in part because of this deep commitment. This past January, the Vatican confirmed that Francis is currently writing his first encyclical on ecology.

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